Verb and noun generation tasks in Huntington's disease

We compared noun- and verb-generation tasks in a demented group (n = 9, Dementia Rating Scale less than or equal to 129) and in a non-demented group (n = 17, Dementia Rating Scale > 129) of Huntington's disease (HD) patients compared to 26 matched normal subjects. We did not find a specific deficit for verb production in non-demented patients who had a performance similar to but weaker than that of the controls across the four tasks. The profile of results was different in the demented group because, apart from a global deficit whatever the task in comparison with both non-demented and control groups, the demented patients exhibited increased difficulties in the two tasks implying verb production. The deficit of verb production observed in demented HD patients is discussed in relation to the damage to the motor loop in HD patients at later stages of disease. (C) 2003 Movement Disorder Society.